Railroad-switch control



Sept. 15, 1925.

I. J. FERNEKES RAILROAD SWITCH CONTROL Filed March 19 1921 2Sheets-Sheet 1 [721/8 77 to r,

[Tl 1' n J Frn 1 A zty Sept. 15. 1925.

I. J. FERNEKES RAILROAD SWITCH CONT130L 2 Sheets-Shoo! 2 Filed larch 191921 S 7 h, 6 L. z w z Y n .n m r I y 3 8, a, 5 7 d// 7 b HI 1 .6dfihqillMwlwl$xhuwwwwwwmg W w w hm ,v

i I i M2. \N Q Q 9 .8 \T 5w ali Patented se pt. 15, 1 925.

UNITED STATES invm'r. rannnxns, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

nA nnoAn-swrron colvrnon 7 Application filed March 19, 1921. Serial mi.453,547.

TOall whomz'tmag 00m v p Be it known that I, IRvIN J. .FERNEKES, a

citizen of the United States,residingat Chicago, in the countyofCook andState of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements ina Railroad-Switch Control, of which the following is a specification.

This invention. relates to the operation of railroad switches from thelocomotive 'cab or any other part of a train of cars without stop ingthe trainand without theoperator ting from the train to' throw theswitch. iimong the objects'of the invention are:

To provide means for indicating in advance of theswitch the conditionthereof; to electrically operate the switch in advance or after theswitchis passed from a fixedpoint in the train without stopping thetram; to utilize; the same apparatus for openlng and closing theswitch;tooperate an indicating target'orsignal upon the] operation of theswitch which will show the condition of the switch at a plurality ofpoints; to provide suitable switch operating mechanismelec:

trically controlled for operating the switch and for operating one ormore indicatlng 7 targets; to operate one of a plurality of switchesfIOHlflnYZODQ of a plurality of train positions and in generahto providea switch controlling system having the construction, combination andarrangement of parts as drawings, Fig. 1 is a track andfasidingtherefor; ig. 2 illustrates the'methodf of applying an energizingelectric current. to jthe'fcontact frails located between'the otherrails of a track; Figs. 1

and 1"illustrateJmodifications of the signal switch andfthe devicescontrolled thereby; Fig.3 is a sectional'view'showing a switchoperatingconstruction and a signal therefor; and Fig. 4 is adiagrammatic view showing acircuit closing means operated by the switchmotor for controlling the indicating targets. I, V IIn this switchcontrol system the contact rails are disposed on both sides ofthe switchto be controlled thereby and if desired, at a plurality of points oneach side thereof so that the switch can be controlled in eitherbe'quite apparent, and'although the present the siding.

invention is described as applied to a main track and a siding with aswitch at either end oft-he siding,.it is obvious that the same systemmay be employed in ladder and yard tracks of any kind. To separatelycontrol the track switches at opposite ends of the siding, three contactrails are'provided in the siding, one rail bein'gused in common witheither of the other two to control either track switch.

Referring now" more particularly to the drawings, a main track 1 has asiding 2 connected thereto by switches 3 at the ends of Between therailsof the main track at some distance beyond one end ofthe siding arecontacts a and 5, and beyond the i switch at the other end of the sidingare contacts 4 and 6. Correspondingcontact rails 4, 5 andG'are alsopositioned between the rails of the siding in a plurality of spacesusually'adjacent the ends of the siding and near the switches 3,although they may be at any desired points depending somewhat upon thelength of the siding. Likewise the pairs of contacts stand 5 or 4 and 6at either end of the siding may be. duplicated at different distancestherefrom, but one pairat each end is rsufiicient to illustrate thepresent invention. The contacts in the main track are usually at such adistance from the track switch which'they control that the switch willbe opened before the train reaches the switch even though it istravelling at a fairly flgood rate of speed. A train usually slowsswitch and signal mechanism. -After the track switch is operated thecurrent is cut ofi'. a v

Contact rails 4' are all connected to a trunk conductor 7, rails 5 to atrunk conductor 8,

and rails 6 to a trunk conductor 9. These trunk conductors are properlycarried by a pole line at the side of the track or in any other suitableway so they are insulated from each other.

Adjacent each pair of contact rails in the main track is an indicatingsignal 10 preferably of the dwarf signal type, but clearly visible from.the train. It may comprise a single arm 11 as well as a lamp 12 of anyordinary indicating type to show the condition of the switch 3 at nightas well as by day. A signalling device ofthis kind may also be locatedadjacent the siding contacts nection 27.

as indicated in broken outline in Fig. 1, connected in parallel with theother'signal 10, but ordinarily the siding signal is not necessary.

At each switch 3 is a switch mechanism, as shown more clearly in Fig. 3which C0111- prises an ordinarily fixed signal stand 13 carrying a lampsignal 1 1 and target arms 15. In a box or receptacle 16 at the base ofthe stand is; an electric motor 17 of the reversible type which has apinion 13 meshing with an elongated gear 19 and also engaging a-gear 20at the bottom of the stand 13 for rotating the switch stand to indicateclear or danger. The gear 19 is mounted on a bar or shaft 21 whichextends through a fixed and internally threaded box 22. AIiixed to theshaft is a threaded member 23 which engages the threads of the box 22 sothat the rotation of the gear 19 moves the shaft and with it the gear 19longitudinally. At the outer end of the shaft 21 it is connected 1 bymeans of a bracket 24 to the opposite switch points 25 and 26 which arejoined by a cross con- In order to permit the rota-, tion of the shaftwhere it joins the track 24, an enlarged head 28 is provided whichengages in a box 29 connected to the bracket. A nut or gear 30 may beprovided on the shaft 21 outside of the receptacle 16 for rotating theshaft in an emergency in case the motor 17 should fail to operate theswitch.

At. the inner end of the shaft 21 is an electric switch 31 preferablyofthe knife blade type, comprising an arm .32 having a pin and slotconnection 33 with the sha-ftfor operating the switch with a lost motionmovement depending upon the direction of longitudinal movement of theshaft. This switch 31 is intended to control the operation of thesignald'evices IOafter' the operation of the switch itself and the lostmotion connection is to insure that the switch will be operated beforethe signal 10 therefor is operated to insure that the switch is in theposition indicated.

In order to energize and to reverse the switch motors 17 and the otherelectric devices a source of current supply 3 1 is provided'in thelocomotive cab or in any of the train cars, which is connected through areversing switch 35 to the spring pressed contact shoes 36 which engagethe contact strips or rails 4C, 5 and 6 between the tracks.

In making these connections one of the contacts of switch 35 isconnected by a con ductor 37 to one ofthe contact shoes 36. The otherswitch contactis connected by a conductor 38 to a switch arm 39 whichengages a contact 40, in one direction of movement and a contact 11 inthe other direction of movement. The contact 40 is connected by aconductor {12 to the contact shoe 36 for the middle contact strip 6, andthe contact 41 is connected by a conductor 13 to the other contact shoe36 for the contact strip 5.-

In operating the train portion of this apparatus, the arm 39 is moved toengage either contact 10 or 41 depending upon the track switch which itis desired to operate, and the reversing switch 35 is operated to openor close position, depending upon whether is desired to open or closethe selected track switch.

As shown in Fig. 4, the operation of switch 31 in one direction closes aconnection from thetrunk wire 8 and conductor t through the switch arm32 to contact 15 and thence by conductor 46 to the signal 10 and fromthe signal 10 back to the other trunk line 7. The engagement of thetrack contacts 1 and 5 by the contact shoes of the train apparatus willpermit a current to be closed in either direction to the motor 17 whichwill subsequently energize the signal 10 by the operation of the switch31 just described. 7

In either case, the signal 10 receives cur rent only when the shaft 21is at one end of its longitudinal movement.

By connecting both contacts 45 and 17 of the switch 31 with a conductor48 and then connecting this conductor to the conductor 46, as shown inFig. 1 the switch 10 will be energized at each end of movement of theshaft 21. If desired, both a lamp 49 and a motor 50 may be included inthe conductor line 46 and the lamp will be lighted and the motor will beenergized oppositely at each end .of movement of the shaft 21. The motor50 may be replaced by a magnet or any other suitable electro magneticdevice, if it is desired to operate a signal arm 11. I

Instead of thearrangement illustrated in Fig. 1, separate conductors 51and .52 may be connected to the' contacts 45 and 47 of the switch 31 andan electriclainp 53 and a magnet 54:, or other electro respon sivedevices maybe connected in each branch, the two branches being connectedby the conductor 46, as before explained,

.to the trunk conductor 7. It should be understood that these lamps 53and magnets 54 are a part of the dwarf signal 10' and are for operatingthe visual and indicating means thereof to show the position of thetrack switch to which the dwarf signal relates.

In any casethe switch arm 32 is operated between the switch contacts 45and 4:7 by the movement of the track switch and the shaft 21, as shownand described in connection with Figs. 3 and 4:. i

In operation let ussuppose that a train is approaching the siding fromthe right hand end of Fig. 1. The dwarf signal lO adjacent condition ofthe track' switchahead. If the engineer wishes to continueon the maintrack no operation: isnecessary; if he wishes to go on the siding hefirst throws the switch arm 39 so that it'makes contact with the .outerstrip contact 41 and then throws the blade operator of switch 35 to theopen position which connects the contact shoes 36 with the contactstrips 4 and 6, and thence through trunk line conductors 7 and 9 tooperate first the track switch 3 by means of the motor 17, then thedwarf signal switch 31, and finally the dwarf 'signalitself to indicatethat the track switch is in the desired position. 7 r

If the siding switch were open it could be closed by the train operator,by simply throwing the switch 35 to close position. In the same way thesiding switch 3 at the left hand end of Fig. 1, may be opened or closedfrom the main track through the track contacts 4 and 5.

When the train is on the siding the switch at either end of the sidingcan be closed from a plurality of points, and it is preferable to havethree contacts at each position, the pairs of contacts 4 and 5 relatingto the switch at one end of the siding and the pairs of contacts 4 and 6relatin to the switch at the other end of the siding. --In this case itis necessaryto move the switch arm 39 to engage eitherthe contact 40 or41 to connect with the contactstrip 6 at the center of the siding orwith the other contact strip 5, the connection for the contact strip 4being common to both pairs of contacts. Thus by engaging the propertrack contactsit is apparent that the switches at both ends of thesiding can be controlled from the train at any one of a plurality ofplaces in the siding.

a It is apparent that other changes in the construction, combination andarrangement of the several parts may be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the inventio r I claim:

1. In an electric switch control for railroads, the combination with amain track and a siding therefor having an electrically operatedswitchat both ends, of a pair of track contacts beyond the ends of thesiding, means operable from a train to engagethe contacts for closingelectric connections to operate the switch adjacent thereto, and threeor more track contacts in the siding for closing electrical connectionsto operate either one of the switches from the same po sition.

2. In a railroad switch control, the combination with a main track and aside track connected thereto by a plurality of electrically operatedswitches, of a pair of contacts in the main track for controlling theswitch adjacent thereto, and three contacts in the siding forcontrolling the electrically operated switch at either side thereof, oneof the contacts being common to each pair of contacts necessary tocontrol one of-the switches, and means operable from a train etorengagethe contacts for closing electrical connections to operate the selectedswitch without stopping the train.

IRVIN J. FERNEKES.

